Journal Entry: Day 6

What is real? Does it “being real” even matter? If you believe it is real – isn’t that enough? Who wouldn’t want to live in a perfect world with your perfect person being everything you wanted to be? Seriously, what would you give to live in that utopia where everyone, including you, is happy? Escape death. Escape reality. Live forever. Doesn’t it only matter if you believe it?

This story is my record and my repentance. I hope someday someone reads this and is able to tell my stepdad and the families that I hurt; that I am sorry; and I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Forgive me.

Chapter I: The Flight

T-18 Hours, November 19, 2026

Brianna couldn't breathe. The smoke was choking her, filling her lungs with something thick and chemical. The heat—God, the heat was a living thing pressing against her skin, blistering, relentless. She clawed at the chain link fence in front of her. Climbing before she knew what she was doing. Her body had completely stopped listening to her brain.

“Dad! Dad is in there!”

The thought wasn't a thought. It was a scream that lived inside her chest, behind her ribs, tearing at her from the inside out. She could see the crumpled metal wreckage. The fire consuming everything. The flames were licking up through the back of the plane with this lazy, almost beautiful curl that made her want to vomit.

“He could still be alive.” The thought kept her climbing.

Someone grabbed her. Dragging her off the fence, hauling her backward. She fought—elbows flying. The explosion sent her flying to the ground.

The plane rocked. Brianna gasped, she coughed getting air into her lungs. Flames receded. She nuzzled into something soft. “Dad.” Her eyes opened to the softness. A blue-clad chest. Thank god. Just a nightmare. I breathed heavy. The terror faded as reality kicked in.

Her eyes popped. Noah Rozen was asleep, and I'd been sleeping on his arm. “Oh. My. God.”

Internally she was screaming a whole litany. “Fuck. Fuck.”

She could already feel her face heating. Zero to lobster in 0.6 seconds. She must be beat red. Embarrassment. The curse of all redheads. If she had darker skin you wouldn’t see the crawl of red climbing from her chest to her face. She was ghost white. Her dad had even said she glowed in the sun. She’d tried a tanning bed once. Only once. It had been straight to scarlet and then back to white. There wasn’t even a hint of a tan. Depressing. She eased herself away as carefully as she could, edging as far from the near-stranger as possible and smashing herself against the window.

The plane lurched. Bile hit the back of her throat. Brianna hunched forward, fingers white-knuckled around the little bag, staring at the checkered carpet between her feet. She heaved again. Nothing left. Airspace Asia was supposed to be the gold standard—legroom, service, the works—but a petite, sharp-looking flight attendant in a dark blue pencil skirt and sweater had come by exactly once. She hadn't even swapped out the bag. The captain had warned about turbulence early on, but this was bumpier than anything she’d ever experienced. She could hear the other students around worried murmuring adding to her sky-high anxiety. See. She could be funny.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Tight. When she opened them, Noah's seat was empty. The fasten seatbelt sign was off. Thank God. Maybe the storm was over.

Her seatmate Noah had been surprisingly amazing. It was Bri’s first time meeting him despite him being the class valedictorian. In fairness, as a late senior year transfer student she still had several people in the senior class she’d never met. She’d only been in Veritas International Academy, the students and staff called it VIA, for a couple of months. She didn’t share any classes with Noah. She wasn’t taking AP credit classes. The classes were super posh. With only a few exceptions, the classes had less than 10 people.

Noah was a bit of an odd one. Blond hair and a few inches taller than her 5’7” he was attractive in a preppy way. But he insisted on wearing a facemask all of the time. Weird, right? With his glasses on you couldn’t even see his face. But right now he wasn’t wearing glasses. His brilliant blue eyes, shining like the richest sapphire, had mesmerized her a few times.

“Maybe he didn’t need them, just like her.” The thought that there was someone else hiding behind fake lenses was rather endearing. She knew why she did it. Almost a carbon copy of her famous Irish mother, Meagen McDavid, a famous Oscar Award-winning actress. Even as a child, she had been considered strikingly beautiful. The only differences from being called a carbon copy was her hair was a few shades more brown versus Meagen’s fire engine red, she was a few inches taller, and her eyes. Both compliments of her dad. Her eyes were a unique reddish brown color that matched her hair. It could be red, orange, or brown depending on what she wore, her emotions, and the lights.

She had been the brunt of all sorts of rumors and ridicule in Hollywood. Girls wanted to be her or be friends with her until the guy they liked confessed. It was tolerable until middle school boys happened. And her boobs had guaranteed that boys looked at something other than her face. Then the girls turned nasty. And the guys went one of two ways. They started rumors about her being easy or a bitch. Or they stalked her. She’d taken to ditching makeup entirely, trying all black punk-like apparel and wearing ridiculously ugly circular glasses. Think a la British 1960’s style that really made everyone look unattractive.

Noah sat back down his presence taking up more space than it should have. Bri found the whole VIA tier’s thing ridiculous. But even with the mask and his apparent nerdiness he wasn’t picked in at all. Unless you were uber rich or famous, or preferably both, you weren’t getting into the VIA in the first place. The highest elite rank among the uber rich and famous you could get at Veritas International Academy was a Tier I or diamond. In VIA world, any world really, money equals power. So you just didn’t mess with a Tier I. Bri called them the “untouchables” in her head. But she didn’t care. In a few short months it would be all be over. Bri had adopted a “fuck everyone attitude,” after she’d gotten slapped with a Tier 4 sticky on her forehead on day one. Compliments of her favorite, read “evil”, new stepsister Victoria.

Bri had heard Noah’s family was from Israel and did some military technology, drones or UAV’s or something. But she couldn’t remember which one. So if he was so rich, what was he doing in coach?

He’d blown off the school travel uniform too. She hadn’t expected that. Bri’s guess. He did it because he could. The benefit of being a “Diamond”, “Tier I” or whatever.

In an alternate reality, her family would have possibly ranked Tier III or “silver”, easily mingling with the rich and famous, but now her parents were dead; and she was broke. Bri had nothing. Skating through on her stepfather’s money and reputation now that she was an orphan. At nineteen, she was at least a good year older than most of the other students, but she just didn’t care. Her only goal, Graduation. Despite the amount of money her stepfather had, he refused to even give her an allowance. She had to go to him for every small thing which felt awkward to say the least.

She decided to go to Victoria’s incredibly luxurious boarding school since her stepfather couldn’t argue despite his best attempts to keep her home and curtail her independence. She had traded having to deal with Baron for having to deal with Victoria. Despite Victoria’s nonsense she didn’t feel slimed every time she had interacted with her.

But it stuck her with her step-sister, a “gold” who was tripping on her self-importance and insisting on making her life a living hell. Bri’s anti-VIA attire today was all Hollywood punk, a deliberate “don’t approach me” look. She’d paired black ripped jeans with her favorite black, designer long sleeve t-shirt with the outline of a fluorescent green alien. It had been the last gift from her dad. And she’d paired it with a black leather jacket and combat boots.

Obviously he wasn’t good at social cues. That vibe had flown right over Noah’s head. He’d straight out and asked, “Do you like aliens?” Right in the middle of her first panic attack of the flight. Never thought she’d say. “That Noah for you, he’s one hell of a conversation starter.”

Noah plopped back down beside her, quickly fastening his seat belt. The dark blue v-neck sweater over a white collared shirt and dark blue pants and white trainers were individually all very boring but paired together they probably cost as much as a luxury sports car. They oozed class. He looked concerned. “You ok?” Bri nodded. Smartly keeping her mouth shut. Just in case there was anything left in her stomach.

He’d been amazing. Attuned to her fear of aerophobia in a way even her best friend hadn’t been. He’d also patted her back while she’d puked next to him. He had recognized her anxiety as soon as he’d sat down. Despite his obvious introveredness, it could be a word, he had kept up a steady conversation about the once-in-a lifetime cruise we were taking to keep me distracted. I’d learned a whole stream of random facts about the ship.

She looked around at the other classmates who had been relegated to coach. Veritas International Academy, or VIA for short, had booked out the entire plane. However, many had either taken their own private jets or chartered flights. The remaining Tier II Gold students occupied first class, while the rest of us were stuck in coach. Even her one friend at school, Asune, who had convinced me to finally join the cruise, was seated in first class. She had tried to get an extra seat but no dice.

She had blown up her phone since she had arrived late at the airport. Victoria had arranged a charter with Michael, her stepbrother, wouldn’t even ride with me, forcing Reno, our chauffeur, to make two trips to the airport. Asune had offered to give me a ride, but she didn’t want to feel even more indebted to her. I had noticed she wasn’t the type to give up her comfort. So, despite us rooming together on the cruise—she was paying—we weren’t traveling together.

The plane dropped. Screams echoed throughout the cabin. I could hear Zara behind me. I smiled. It warmed her heart that Zara, one of Eve’s enforcers had cried out. I laughed again. All those drugs for anxiety and sleep had finally kicked in. Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Maybe this was another dream?

Another drop. Bri’s stomach churned. The burn of stomach acid. Noah handed me a bag. He’d brought more back when he had gone to the restroom. How sweet. Bri gagged. She should have gotten used to puking by now. There was nothing left.

Screw this trip. She should have taken the opportunity to move back to the Moriarte estate from the school dorm. Asune had pressured her to come. And she just hadn’t wanted to see Baron, her stepfather. He made her highly uncomfortable, ever since the first meeting. Horrifically codependent, her mom had her married her high-school sweetheart less than six months after dad died. Six months later she moved us to Tokyo and three months later she was left all alone, sponging off of her “new family”. At least that was the story Victoria, my stepsister was selling.

As a relative loner over the last two years, her inner voice had constant play. At least it kept her company. It told her that she was NEVER flying again. Nice. Right? But that voice shouldn’t be trusted. It said that every time, even on the good flights. That voice couldn’t be trusted. Now she was just fooling herself and talking to herself. I’d be flying back to Japan next week. I cringed. I had a healthy and legitimate fear. As I’d told Noah earlier when I’d had a death grip on his arm. “It’s not flying. It’s falling”. He’d laughed. “I’m scared of dying. And crowds. That count?”

The pilot’s deep voice came over the loudspeaker. “Sorry for the surprise turbulence. You know that storm I mentioned earlier. Well, she’s here. Expect some rockings and rolling for the next twenty minutes. We are going to increase the altitude to try and avoid some of the worst bumps. Buckle your seat belts and keep your hands and feet inside the flying vehicle.” Despite the attempts at levity, I could hear signs of stress in his voice.

Noah and I looked at each other.

Bri laughed. It came out more hysterical than she would have liked. A thud and screams echoed. Noah turned toward the aisle. I heard thudding sounds and I grabbed Noah’s sweater as a loose beverage cart slammed into the first class separation in front of us spilling beverages. Noah looked stunned. He looked at me. “Thanks for saving my head.”

“Anytime.”

The plane jolted. Harder. Some of the overhead Luggage compartments opened. Luggage flew into the aisle, hitting several students. Screams echoed, and my oxygen mask landed in my lap.